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Goodwood Relays - Cross-Country is Back!
Sunday 3rd October 2021
The Sussex Cross-Country season got underway at Goodwood on September 25 in pleasantly unseasonal mud-free conditions. Standing out amongst an impressive array of performances from Phoenix athletes was Finn McNally’s unusual double, clocking up both the first and second fastest times in the Senior Men’s race Finn took little more than a ten-minute break before following up his first leg time for Team PHX 1 of 11: 56 with an even quicker 11:54 running the third leg for Team PHX 2. All just for the fun of it of course, as the usual relay rules meant that only the first time was eligible for the official rankings. Jamie Corbett also volunteered for a double dose of speedy pain, clocking 12:53 and 13:41 in Legs 2 and 4.
Two other Phoenix runners gained fastest lap awards, with V60 Chris Berry knocking 40 seconds off his 2019 time with an excellent 17:13. And V50 Adrian Haines also topped his age category clocking 14:43. He commented:
“ I really enjoy team races. This was my first team event for Phoenix . Being a tracky and being injured for most of the track season I have been getting back to fitness. 4000m would be a long track but a short cross country for me. I’m quite surprised I pulled off the fastest M50 lap but very pleased. I ran the 1st leg and we kept 1st place to leg 3, but I knew Deeply Purple drummer Pete O,Connell (Horsham Joggers) was going to be very difficult to beat on the last leg!”
Best team results came from our V35 Women – Sibel `Latchman, Caroline Waterworth and Cat Clewley - and our U15 Boys - Matthew `Noakes, Archie Turner and Owen Wallek – who both won their age categories. Our Senior Men, V50 Men and V55 Women all claimed second place – as did our U17 Men, though a technicality made them ineligible for the official County Championship awards.
As coach and athlete Liz Halliday commented “So good to be back racing in a team again!” Make sure you head for back to Goodwood on October 16th for the first league race
Full Results: https://www.sussexathletics.net/2020-2/
